tangent4ronpaul
01-12-2013, 04:06 PM
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/01/11/rockefeller_to_retire_in_2014_after_30_years_in_se nate_116667.html?google_editors_picks=true
Democratic Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller will not seek a sixth term next year, he announced Friday at a poignant press conference in West Virginia.
One of the Senate’s richest members, Rockefeller dedicated the bulk of his life to public service and helping the poor in one of the nation’s most economically challenged states.
...
He recognized the difficulties of the coal mining and steel industries found throughout the state, as well as the hardships West Virginians have faced, but he complimented them for being “incredibly hardworking” and resolute. He joked that they have also been “skeptical of me for quite a long time.”
The speech was laden with applause lines and peppered with explanations of policy fights and achievements the longtime lawmaker has endured and won.
A two-term governor of the state who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, Rockefeller was instrumental in shepherding health care reform through Congress in 2009-10. He had been a top ally of Bill Clinton’s during the first push for such legislation in the early ’90s, and used that experience to the Democrats’ advantage in the successful effort after Barack Obama won the presidency.
In a conversational manner, Rockefeller listed the benefits the Affordable Care Act will grant many West Virginia residents and concluded that portion of his remarks by saying, “Health care is a moral imperative, and finally it’s law.”
To that end, President Obama said in a statement Friday, “Jay has built an impressive legacy, one that can be found in the children who have better schools, the miners who have safer working conditions, the seniors who have retired with greater dignity, and the new industries that he helped bring to West Virginia.” He added, “A longtime champion of health care reform, Jay was also instrumental in the fight to make sure that nobody in America has to go broke because they get sick.”
Still, an impassioned and self-deprecating Rockefeller repeatedly asserted that he’s not going to slow down and rest on his laurels during the final two years of his tenure, and that he intends to push through more critical legislation. The senator’s office issued an official series of photos and accomplishments to mark his milestones.
The high-profile retirement will be a blow to West Virginia’s clout in the Senate, and it also presents the GOP with a golden opportunity to pick up a seat in the upper chamber.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced soon after being re-elected in November that she plans to run for the Senate in 2014. She is held in high esteem by establishment Republicans inside the Beltway, but there’s been a reticence to embrace her openly for fear of a far right-wing primary challenge.
Democrats say there are plenty of potential candidates waiting in the wings, but the two most frequently mentioned names are Carte Goodwin, who briefly replaced the late Sen. Robert Byrd before Democrat Joe Manchin was elected to the seat, and Earl Ray Tomblin, West Virginia’s governor.
Rockefeller’s impending departure from the Senate will further reduce the rapidly shrinking level of seniority in the chamber.
Longtime Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Tim Johnson of South Dakota are up for re-election next year. None of the three has said he plans to run again, and more retirement announcements may be coming.
-t
Democratic Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller will not seek a sixth term next year, he announced Friday at a poignant press conference in West Virginia.
One of the Senate’s richest members, Rockefeller dedicated the bulk of his life to public service and helping the poor in one of the nation’s most economically challenged states.
...
He recognized the difficulties of the coal mining and steel industries found throughout the state, as well as the hardships West Virginians have faced, but he complimented them for being “incredibly hardworking” and resolute. He joked that they have also been “skeptical of me for quite a long time.”
The speech was laden with applause lines and peppered with explanations of policy fights and achievements the longtime lawmaker has endured and won.
A two-term governor of the state who was first elected to the Senate in 1984, Rockefeller was instrumental in shepherding health care reform through Congress in 2009-10. He had been a top ally of Bill Clinton’s during the first push for such legislation in the early ’90s, and used that experience to the Democrats’ advantage in the successful effort after Barack Obama won the presidency.
In a conversational manner, Rockefeller listed the benefits the Affordable Care Act will grant many West Virginia residents and concluded that portion of his remarks by saying, “Health care is a moral imperative, and finally it’s law.”
To that end, President Obama said in a statement Friday, “Jay has built an impressive legacy, one that can be found in the children who have better schools, the miners who have safer working conditions, the seniors who have retired with greater dignity, and the new industries that he helped bring to West Virginia.” He added, “A longtime champion of health care reform, Jay was also instrumental in the fight to make sure that nobody in America has to go broke because they get sick.”
Still, an impassioned and self-deprecating Rockefeller repeatedly asserted that he’s not going to slow down and rest on his laurels during the final two years of his tenure, and that he intends to push through more critical legislation. The senator’s office issued an official series of photos and accomplishments to mark his milestones.
The high-profile retirement will be a blow to West Virginia’s clout in the Senate, and it also presents the GOP with a golden opportunity to pick up a seat in the upper chamber.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced soon after being re-elected in November that she plans to run for the Senate in 2014. She is held in high esteem by establishment Republicans inside the Beltway, but there’s been a reticence to embrace her openly for fear of a far right-wing primary challenge.
Democrats say there are plenty of potential candidates waiting in the wings, but the two most frequently mentioned names are Carte Goodwin, who briefly replaced the late Sen. Robert Byrd before Democrat Joe Manchin was elected to the seat, and Earl Ray Tomblin, West Virginia’s governor.
Rockefeller’s impending departure from the Senate will further reduce the rapidly shrinking level of seniority in the chamber.
Longtime Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Tim Johnson of South Dakota are up for re-election next year. None of the three has said he plans to run again, and more retirement announcements may be coming.
-t